An inflated sense of elf

Bryson Hoff, 6, admires two of the approximately 50 Christmas-theme inflatables in his grandfather's yard. On nights he doesn't have school the next morning, Bryson dances in his elf costume and hands out candy canes to people in cars who pull through the driveway.

Chip Ellis
Animals on a Noah's Ark inflatable wish "joy to the world."

Chip Ellis
Bud Turner, of Winfield, says he usually exceeds his wife Nancy's recommended annual limit of three new inflatables.

WINFIELD, W.Va. -- For the past 20 years, as the sun goes down in November and December, Bud Turner walks across his driveway to the garage by his house.

As darkness falls, around 5:30 p.m., Turner flips 29 switches on a circuit breaker, and in seconds the plastic blobs dotting the grass come alive.

Inflatable reindeer, snowmen, elves and Santa Clauses in almost every pose -- hunting, fishing, driving, relaxing and even using an outhouse -- cover Turner's lawn.

More than 150 extension cords serve as speed bumps along his driveway, which loops around in a circle at his riverfront home on Winfield Drive.

Paired with around 75,000 lights, Turner's 3 acres of property is almost entirely covered in Christmas decorations.

"We encourage people driving by to pull in the driveway -- we've got a circle anyway -- instead of slowing down on the road. They don't bother us," said Turner, 69.

It's safer that way, he noted. Several years ago a woman trying to look at the lights rammed into the back of a car in front of her, so Turner tries to get the word out to just pull into the driveway to take it all in.

Last year on a single night about 100 cars come through the driveway.

"I've heard some people from outside the area come down to look at it," Winfield Mayor Randy Barrett said. "He adds to it every year -- it's quite extensive."

Jazzy renditions of Christmas carols play from one inflatable decoration. On many nights, Turner's grandson, Bryson Hoff, 6, is out dressed in an elf costume dancing and handing out candy canes to people in cars that pull through the driveway.

"He tells me to hide and says elves don't have parents, so I walk over there when cars come," Turner said, pointing to a gazebo.